# Never though this could happen to me~!!!



## mvorbrodt (Jan 13, 2010)

Long story short... one of my desktop humis was running low on sticks so I opened up my 150qt cooler and pulled out a 10ct box of H.Upmann Mag 50 and 10ct box of HdM EE and loaded up the humi... that was few days ago... I open it this morning and what do I see?!?!?!? A speck of dust sized white MOVING spots on my cigars!!! CRAP I SCREAM!!! So I removed all the cigars from that humidor and what do I see? Larger brown spots moving on my cigars and on the bottom of the humi! Though they look MUCH smaller than what the internet claims those tobacco beetle should look.

Off to the freezer they go... further investigation into my cooler revealed 1 in 3 boxes has the infestation, though it appears I discovered it in time to save the cigars!


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## TrippMc4 (Jan 22, 2010)

That sucks! Glad you noticed it in time. I currently don't freeze my cigars and stories like this make me very nervous and I feel like I may need to freeze them just in case. 

Good luck and hopefully there is no major damage done.


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## bpegler (Mar 30, 2006)

The stuff of nightmares.

Sorry Martin.


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## JGD (Mar 2, 2009)

That is why I freeze everything. Sorry Martin,, I feel for ya.


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## dav0 (Feb 7, 2011)

Sorry to hear it but sounds like you caught it in time to prevent major loss.

If it comes into my inventory and isn't being smoked in 2 days, it gets frozen!


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## emk (May 4, 2009)

Sorry, to hear it; glad you caught it; but, selfish me looks at the photo and begs to say, "If you want some tested after freezing, I volunteer."
Good luck & thanks for the reminder to inspect often.


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## usrower321 (Mar 27, 2011)

Well Gee Martin, that's the nicest freezer I've ever seen.

I'm glad you found them in time! I hope those suckers get their due.

Are you going to freeze the boxes too just to be sure?


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## Perfecto Dave (Nov 24, 2009)

Well look at this way......you had thaw out those steaks to make room for the cigars so dinner will be a plus tonight! :biglaugh:

Beetles suck.....I've been in that boat once. Ironically, it was in my temp controlled holding box (stays 65-68 degrees) and not my humi in the house which occasionally hits 76-77-78 during the summer months out here. Yea, it was a in box of island leaf. I very seldom get into the temp controlled box and luckily just happen to be in moving a few things around to make room for the incoming. I hadn't opened any of the boxes until I just thought to myself "self, I need a wiff of these in this box" and lo and behold there it was! Came out of the side of one cigar and bored right into the one lying beside it. After many unscrupulous words flying from my mouth and doing a total box opening party they all went in the freezer.
There's a reason many of the guys on here preach freezing. Not because they want to be smarter than any of the others, they're truly just trying to help.

Glad you caught it early also, Martin. We spend too much $ and too much time invested in the hobby to be over run by a little bug with a big appetite!


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## Barefoot (Jun 11, 2010)

Glad you caught them in time. I assume there was not any damage. Freeze those boxes and any tubos also.


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## UncleFester (Jan 5, 2011)

I don't know what I'm more jealous of, the beautiful selection of sticks or the automatic ice maker. Being the guy who always ends up having to fill the trays, if given a choice between the two, I'd have a hell of a decision on my hands.

I'm pretty much convinced my wife feels filling ice trays is the work of the "untouchables". :|


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## BMack (Dec 8, 2010)

That is a very nice Freezador you have there. 

Sorry to hear about the beetles, with the temps here I check often for signs of the little buckers.


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## thebayratt (Jun 4, 2009)

Good thing you caught them before it got real bad!!!

Looks like we have the same fridge too!! lol.
Mine looked like that last week with bags of cigars in it.... _the misses wasn't impressed._


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## mvorbrodt (Jan 13, 2010)

Thanks for all the kind works guys!

Yes, ALL boxes are next. Everything in the cooler will go at once, as soon as I'm done with the loose sticks.

I'm also wondering if what I have are actual bettles. See they're are super small, the tiny white ones I couldn't even tell where the head or legs were, the larger ones are brown and I could sort of make out the body shape, but still very tiny. I though there was going to be a large larva and even bigger beetle. Strange...


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## tpharkman (Feb 20, 2010)

Sorry to hear it Martin. What were the temps running in the humidor/coolidor? Any holes in the leaf or did you catch them before they commenced their drilling?

I better get to freezing and inspecting just to be sure.


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## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

jgd said:


> that is why i freeze everything. Sorry martin,, i feel for ya.


+11111111111111


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## kapathy (Nov 20, 2010)

wish you had pics of the bugs......i had a freak out recently with tiny bugs near my stash... not in the humis or cooler just all over my bartop..... according to the exterminator they are silverfish...so im hoping hes right, but i freeze everything, even before these suckers showed up


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## mvorbrodt (Jan 13, 2010)

tpharkman said:


> Sorry to hear it Martin. What were the temps running in the humidor/coolidor? Any holes in the leaf or did you catch them before they commenced their drilling?
> 
> I better get to freezing and inspecting just to be sure.


No drilling that I could find except ONE cigar that looked like it had a pin size hole poked in it.

Again, I'm not even sure if those are the dreaded beetles. the larva looked too small and moved too fast. the larger brown ones were still no larger than a pin head, less than one millimeter in side.

I'm freezing all loose sticks now, and the boxes are next starting tomorrow...


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## gator_79 (Sep 16, 2009)

Earlier this year as I was planning to deploy back overseas I decided to freeze everything. I will not be able to look at my sticks for 6-7 months and I wanted to be safe. My wife is great and she does know how to check the beads and add water if need be. Sorry about your stash...Just hope you caught it in time.


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## NoShhhSherlock (Mar 30, 2011)

Glad you got them in the freezer Martin! I wonder what type of bugs they were.


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## mvorbrodt (Jan 13, 2010)

Out of the freezer, every cigar now has to pass inspection:





AND THEY LOOK GOOD:







Now I only need to freeze 13 more boxes and I'm golden


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## tpharkman (Feb 20, 2010)

I see you now where in the heck is the darn virgin who rolled those things?


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## Boudreaux (Jun 27, 2007)

Martin, I'm glad you were able to catch them quickly before any serious damage was done...


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## mvorbrodt (Jan 13, 2010)

tpharkman said:


> I see you now where in the heck is the darn virgin who rolled those things?


She's sleeping on the couch and she's no virgin alright :bounce:


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## Tredegar (Nov 27, 2007)

Nice selection!! it would be a serious bummer if any were lost.


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## mvorbrodt (Jan 13, 2010)

UPDATE!

Upon further examination, looks like what I had crawling over my food were Weevil bugs: Weevil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I found few adult ones outside my cooler where cigars are stored...


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## Oldmso54 (Jul 31, 2010)

Hey I think we have the same freezer - Oh Wait! mine doesn't have any cohibas, hdm's, party's or other cc's in it - DAMN!!

Seriously though hope you caught EVERYTHING in time and don't lose a single stick.


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## sligub (Apr 6, 2011)

Good to here you caught it in time. Think I'm just going to double check my sticks.


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## NoShhhSherlock (Mar 30, 2011)

mvorbrodt said:


> UPDATE!
> 
> Upon further examination, looks like what I had crawling over my food were Weevil bugs: Weevil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> 
> I found few adult ones outside my cooler where cigars are stored...


That's a relief to hear! Better safe then sorry, at least now there will be no risk of cigar beetles :tu


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## 96Brigadier (Oct 20, 2009)

dav0 said:


> Sorry to hear it but sounds like you caught it in time to prevent major loss.
> 
> If it comes into my inventory and isn't being smoked in 2 days, it gets frozen!


Ditto, and even if I'm going to smoke them right away they go into their own zip lock bag to isolate them from everything else. I won't risk it, especially after receiving infected cigars from a vendor.


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## quo155 (Aug 10, 2010)

Thanks for sharing this thread...it scared the he.. out of me so that I make sure to freeze the cigars when they come in each time...looks like, no matter what...just to be safe!


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